Jane Storm Teller

Created in 1835 by Ammi Phillips, the oil-on-canvas portrait depicts a woman and originates from Fishkill, New York. The work's ownership history begins with a collateral member of the sitter's family, who sold it to collector Thurston Thacher of Hyde Park, New York. Thacher subsequently sold the painting in 1949 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, who donated it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1953, where it remains part of the collection. The painting measures 83.7 cm in height and 68.5 cm in width.

Ammi Phillips's 1835 oil portrait entered the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., through a gift from Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch in 1953. The work, classified as a portrait and painted on canvas, reflects the stylistic traits of early American folk portraiture, particularly Phillips's characteristic use of flattened modeling and restrained palette. Its provenance traces from Fishkill, New York, to a private collector, then to the Garbischs, underscoring its passage from family ownership to public institution.

Scholarship on Phillips situates this painting within his broader effort to document middle-class subjects, positioning it as an example of 19th-century American portraiture's transition toward more individualized representation.

Ammi Phillips's oil on canvas painting, "Jane Storm Teller," dates to approximately 1835. This portrait presents a seated woman, likely the individual for whom the artwork is named, rendered with a directness characteristic of American folk art from the era. The composition emphasizes the sitter's presence through a focused depiction and a generally understated aesthetic, inviting viewers to engage with the subject's individual character.